Raging Tide rolls over Pittsfield, 13-3

PITTSFIELD -- The bad news: The Pittsfield Suns were drubbed, 13-3 by Old Orchard Beach on Monday night at Wahconah Park.

The good news: The team can't play much worse.

Before an announced crowd of approximately 3,900, the Raging Tide belted out 15 hits, and batted around in the fifth. The visitors opened a 9-0 lead after five and had four extra base hits in the game, including a home run from Jason Voster.

On the other side of the ledger, Pittsfield had eight hits and four errors.

The win leaves the Suns at 26-23, a game behind Brockton for the fourth playoff spot at 28-23 in the FCBL standings. The Suns have three road games left. Plenty of time, unless the Suns play like they did Monday.

The Suns were never really in the game. Voster's dinger came in the first inning off starter and loser Dan Bradley.

In the third, Mike Cleary's two-run triple gave Old Orchard Beach a 3-0 advantage. An unearned run in the fourth inning pushed the margin to 4-0.

Meanwhile, Pittsfield could do nothing with Tides starter Joey Royer, a big (6-3) lefty with a nice, easy motion that enabled him to change speeds and fool opposing hitters all night. The Suns managed three hits in the first four innings, and five overall in six innings against Royer.

In the fifth, the floodgates opened. Cleary singled, Voster walked and Boston Langley was hit by a pitch.

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With the bases loaded, designated hitter Matt Verrier dumped a soft liner into left center field for one run and Grayson Porter added another RBI hit. An error by the Suns' Travis Smith scored two more runs, and Tito Lluberes' single scored run No. 5.

The Suns got a run back in the bottom of the sixth on Anthony Corona's RBI double. But Old Orchard Beach put the game out of reach with a three-run seventh. A two-run single by Voster was the big hit.

Smith and Corona each had two hits, and each had RBI doubles. Every starter for Old Orchard Beach had at least one hit, Voster and Verrier had three hits each to lead the winners.

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